Giveaways
Erin L. Schneider
Goodreads Giveaway: SUMMER OF SLOANE
Goodreads Giveaway: SUMMER OF SLOANE

Friday Fives: Five Best Writing or Book Contests

 

Another Friday is upon us! 

And on top of that, it's finally sunny here in Seattle! I think we've had a total of 72 hours of sun, since the year started...and I know, I know, many of you are suffering with 100+ degree heat and enough humidity that would make my hair bring better reception to my cell phone - but it's been so. gross. here. As in yesterday, it was raining, gray, and a whopping 62 degrees. That was the high temperature for the day folks, not the low. And it's July freakin' 22nd for cryin' out loud (well past July 5th, the official start of summer for Seattle!).

But today is beautiful - waaaaaay too pretty to be sitting in an office, that's for sure! And today's Paper Hanger Friday Fives question is a fun one, although, most of the contests I know of, ended this week - but, here goes!

The Five Best Book / Writing Contests

1. WriteOnCon and TheReadingRoom.com: A first 500 MG/YA words contest. Grand Prize is $1000 AND an author profile page on TheReadingRoom.com. In addition, your work will be considered for possible representation by literary agent, Catherine Drayton. 

2. Writer's Digest: Young Adult Fiction Contest. There is an entry fee of $20, but the prizes?

Prizes:

  • First Prize: The First Place-Winner receives $1,000 cash, promotion in Writer’s Digest, $100 worth of Writer’s Digest Books and the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market.
  • Second Prize: The Second Place-Winner receives $500 cash, promotion in Writer’s Digest, $100 worth of Writer’s Digest Books and the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market.
  • Honorable Mention: Honorable Mentions will receive promotion in Writer’s Digest and the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market.

Check out their website for all the details! 

3. Goodreads book giveaway for POSSESSION, by Elana Johnson

4. GoodReads book giveaway for SHUT OUT, by Kody Keplinger

5. LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR, by Stephanie Perkins - plus 2 other books, on Carolina Valdez Miller's blog!

Friday Fives: Five Favorite Writing Communities

Welcome to Friday! What a long week it's been, that's for sure! Probably because I took all of last week off on vacation...so this week decided to really sock it to me!

Anyhow, it's Friday (yeah!) and today's Paper Hanger Friday Fives topic?

What are your Five Favorite Writing Communities?

Here are mine:

1. WriteBrained Network: A great friend of mine, Bridgid Gallagher (she's the awesomeness that designed my website!) introduced me to this great on-line group of writerly pals, last year. Amazing writers, great community, and wonderful information. And, I head up the YA subgroup for the site - YAwesome Writers (catchy, I know!). Love this group of people - you should really jump on over there and join!

2. NaNoWriMo: I attempted this for the first time, last year - and won (I actually wrote well over the 50k word goal)! I'd been suffering a GINORMOUS case of writer's block for several months leading up to November, and wouldn't you know, NaNo and all the great people I met there, brought my muse out from hiding and gave a hefty kick to that crappy writer's block. Who knew a little competition and one small deadline were all I needed? Me thinks this bodes well if I ever do get published!

3. GoodReads: Okay, not sure if this is technically a writing community - but since a ton of writers hang out there, I think it counts. Love this site. Have met some fab-u-lous writers through GoodReads - not to mention, found some a-mazing reads!

4. Twitter: I never, ever, ever, thought I'd succumb to the madness that is Twitter. And the ONLY reason I did, was because of the huge writer / agent / editor community that takes part on it, every day. I've met so many wonderful people through Twitter. Even found really cool writerly contests. And besides, what better way to stalk, um I mean follow, agents you're interested in? 

5. QueryTracker.net: Another fab community of writers, all trudging through slush pile hell together! Patrick (he's basically the Wizard of Oz behind QT) is completely anal (yeah, I just said that out loud. On my blog. You're jealous. :) ) about keeping all of the content regarding agents & editors up to date. He's fab. And the site is one of my absolute favorites without a doubt. Although, it's basically put my excel spreadsheet on querying, out to pasture - and those who know me, know how I love me my excel spreadsheets, not to mention my lists!!! So that's got to say something.

Okay, so those are my five! Can't wait to hear everyone else's favorite writing communities - I'm always looking for more!

Friday Fives: What Are Your Five Fav Research Tools?

Happy Friday, everyone!

Today's Friday Fives topic? What are your five favorite research tools or resources? Here are mine - what did I miss?

1. Google. Pretty sure I don't need to elaborate on that one.

2. Seventh Sanctum - I've mentioned this one before, but this is where I find all of my character names. 

3. Wikipedia - Okay, so I know it's not supposed to be the most trusted source...so take from it what you will!

4. Urban Dictionary - again, a previous mention of mine...but where else can you dig deep into the slang of teens these days, without stalking them in person? 

5. Thesarus.com - I'd gladly pay a monthly service for this site - that's how much I use it!

My Review: RULES OF ATTRACTION by Simone Elkeles

Rules of Attraction (Perfect Chemistry, #2)Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

When Carlos Fuentes returns to America after living in Mexico for a year, he doesn’t want any part of the life his older brother, Alex, has laid out for him at a high school in Colorado . Carlos likes living his life on the edge and wants to carve his own path—just like Alex did. Then he meets Kiara Westford. She doesn’t talk much and is completely intimidated by Carlos’ wild ways. As they get to know one another, Carlos assumes Kiara thinks she’s too good for him, and refuses to admit that she might be getting to him. But he soon realizes that being himself is exactly what Kiara needs right now.

My Review:

It's not often I write a review on a book I didn't particularly care for. Maybe it's because being a writer myself, I don't want to knock the writing of someone else - after all, I know how much heart and soul one puts into their pages. Maybe it's because I'm sure plenty of other people liked what they read.

Whatever it is, I'll say I thought RULES OF ATTRACTION was just okay and give a couple of reasons why:

USA Today's Top 150 Bestselling Books as of 07.07.2011

Thursday, July 7, 2011: According to USA TODAY, the following list contains the top 50 best selling books (out of 150) - based on sales through Sunday, 07/03/2011.  For the complete list of 150 books for the week or just to check out more information - plus reviews, book news and a searchable archive of USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list - visit their website.

 

YA Note of the week:  Only 7 YA titles grace the top 50, and 22 total even made the entire list. New this week, MIDDLE SCHOOL, THE WORST YEARS OF MY LIFE, by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts, making it's debut at #13. 

 

Legend:

Position This Week, Last Week, Title, Author (Publisher), Price

 

 

1 0 Now You See Her, James Patterson, Michael Ledwidge (Little, Brown), $14.99
2 1 Smokin’ Seventeen, Janet Evanovich (Bantam), $28.00
3 3 The Help, Kathryn Stockett (Berkley), $16.00
4 2 Heaven Is for Real, Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent (Thomas Nelson), $16.99
5 4 The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press), $8.99

My Review: PERFECT CHEMISTRY by Simone Elkeles

Perfect Chemistry (Perfect Chemistry, #1)Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for — her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect.

Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more.

In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.

My Review:

I enjoyed PERFECT CHEMISTRY - at least the first 2/3 of the book. The banter between Alex and Brittany was entertaining, as well as believable - and I loved that the chapters toggled back and forth between both POV's.